Several processes rely on condensation, including many industrial applications, which rely on or involve condensation-based or condensation-related processes. For instance, many power plants rely on industrial direct-contact condensing, wherein sub-cooled liquid is intimately mixed with vapor exiting a turbine. Condensation of the steam requires a substantial volume of water to provide enough contact time between the vapor and the sub-cooled liquid for the vapor to condense. The requisite volume of sub-cooled liquid requires the overall heat transfer device to occupy a significant amount of space and applies backpressure to the turbine, decreasing the efficiency of the turbine. In currently available condensers, reducing the amount of sub-cooled liquid to reduce the amount of backpressure at the turbine, also decreases the efficiency of the condensing process. Decreases in the efficiency of either the turbine or the condensing process negatively affect the efficiency of the thermodynamic cycle, and thus the profitability of the power plant.
To maximize the thermodynamic efficiency, and the corresponding profitability, of a power plant, solutions should be designed to condense vapor at the lowest possible pressure. Further, solutions should be designed to condense vapor while minimizing the size of the condenser. Solutions should also be designed that are applicable to other condensation processes in which vapor comes into contact with a sub-cooled liquid, including, but not limited to: large-scale, phase-change cooling solutions for server farms and smaller-scale heat dissipation applications such as cooling compact, high-powered electronics (e.g., overclocked processors for computer image rendering, power conversion electronics used for electric drivetrains or energy generation). Various embodiments of the present invention address one or more of these desires.